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Maoists trigger seven landmine blasts in Rayagada district

BERHAMPUR: Maoists unleashed a reign of terror in southern as well as western Orissa during the Puja festivities. They triggered a series of seven landmine blasts near Dhepaguda in Gudari block of Rayagada district on Saturday night. Luckily no one became victim to their attempted violence.

According to police sources they had targeted the policemen involved in combing operation in the area on the night before Dusshera. But luckily none of the seven landmines blasted harmed any policeman. Rayagada Superintendent of Police (SP) Ashis Kumar Singh rushed to the spot on Sunday to take note of the situation. Large-scale combing operations were been initiated in the area.

On Saturday night naxals had tried to target personnel of India Reserve Battalion (IRB), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Special Operation Group (SOG) who were on joint combing operation in Gudari, Ramnaguda and Bisamkatak blocks. The Maoists had planned to conduct a blast in some place to attract a police patrol to the spot.

And that police patrol was to be made a scapegoat through landmine blasts causing major damage.

They had reached the Dhepaguda village of Gudari block at around 2 am on Saturday night. According to sources there were seven armed naxals led by one Azad. They made a landmine blast near the UGME School at the village damaging its boundary wall.

Then they left the spot. Receiving information about the incident a police team comprising CRPF personnel rushed to the village. Naxals had set a trap for them at a distance of five km from Dhepaguda on the Raijhola-Dhepaguda road. While the police team was crossing this stretch of road six blasts of claimer mines occurred at the spot. Blasts occurred just 15 metres away from the police team. Due to some reason the mines got mistimed to miss their targets. As per an assessment around 30 Maoists were involved in this operation that failed to harm police teams involved in combing operations in the area.

In another incident around 15 armed Maoists looted over Rs 40,000 from a forest beat office at Kadelpali at the Badarma Reserve Forest in Sambalpur district on Friday night.

They also took away the official records and registers of the office with them. Last year naxals had made similar attack on the same forest beat office and had killed one forest guard.

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